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Casting Tidbits: Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Cole & Dennis Farina

by Ethan Anderton
December 2, 2009

Who ya gonna call? Casting Tidbits! First up, Variety either has some good or bad news for country music fans as they report Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw, Garrett Hedlund and Leighton Meester will all be playing country music singers in the Shana Feste written and directed Love Don't Let Me Down, the story of a rising singer-songwriter (Hedlund) who becomes involved with a fallen country singer (Paltrow) as they embark on a career rejuvenating tour with her husband/manager (McGraw) and a beauty queen-turned-singer (Meester). But romance and digging up the past might prove to much for the musical group.

Next up Variety reports Harold Perrineau (of ABC's "Lost") will join Nicolas Cage, January Jones and Guy Pearce in the thriller The Hungry Rabbit Jumps, the story of a high school chemistry teacher (Cage) whose wife is the victim of a brutal crime which leads him to join with an underground vigilante organization. Perrineau will play Cage's friend and boss, an ex-cop turned high school principal whose loyalties are tested. This should be fine as long as Perrineau doesn't go around screaming "WAAAAALT!"

THR has some foreign and independent casting news as Jose Maria Yazpik (The Burning Plain) has joined a couple projects. First he has taken a role in Jorge Fons' El Atentado the true story of Arnulfo Arroyo (Yazpik), a young terrorist who in 1897 attempts to assassinate Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. Yazpik joins the already cast Daniel Jimenez-Cacho and Irene Azuela. Second, he joins Ryan Reynolds in Buried, the story a civilian contractor in Iraq (Reynolds) who awakens in a coffin under the desert, armed only with a cell phone, a candle and a knife. Since Reynolds is the only actor who appears physically in the movie, Yazpik is simply supplying the voice of an Iraqi insurgent who orchestrates the kidnap-for-ransom.

Finally, ComingSoon heard from Steppenwolf Films about the cast of their already shooting film The Last Rites of Joe May. written and directed by actor Joe Maggio. Dennis Farina (Snatch and NBC's "Law & Order") will be leading the indie which also stars Gary Cole (Office Space), Chelcie Ross (of AMC's "Mad Men"), Ian Barford, and Jamie Allman (of FX's "The Shield"). The film tells the story of a short money hustler who always believed that greatness was waiting for him just around the corner. After years of neglecting friends, family, and his own health, Joe befriends Jenny, a troubled young woman and her six-year-old daughter in a last ditch effort to redeem his wasted life. Sounds like it'll be quite charming.

That's all for this edition of Casting Tidbits! Be sure to stay tuned for more casting news on the way!